The Forbidden Shadow Game

[Ok, I appollogise if i didnt make myself clear enough in the first chapter. I never claimed to own the plot, and yes, the first two or three chapters will be very similar to the book, but i didn't copy word-for-word. (And at least it's in novel form, I could be like the 30,000 people who write Rocky Horror parodies by copy/pasting the script and just changing the names.) Yeah, i know you can't do that with a novel anyway, but at least I tried to make it a little different. But how can you really make that judgement from the first chapter? In the book, Jennie gets stalked by two thugs and runs to the Game Shop...thinking about it, it probably would have been more interesting if i put down Kami Games instead of More Games, but i suck at editing chapters that are already up. By the way, if you have no idea what inspired this mini-rant, i got flamed. So heres my NEW IMPROVED discalimer.]

[The Sabbit does not own YuGiOh, any of the characters, their names, thier pets, ect. She also doesn't own TFG, nor does she own the plot or the author. And we're not makin' any money, either. See? I got flamed, so no joke. nya.]

[Also, I just want to thank the people who reviewed and are interested. - Thanks, guys! And I heart you, Anzu-chan!! Have fun in WALES. Not WHALES. lol. And, By the way, I'm going on Vactation in upstate NY for 2 weeks. Now, this means one big thing-- No computer access. So I won't be able to update in, well, about two weeks. Please don't hate me! How about this? If I have 10 reviews when i get back (by, hopefully, ten different people, or at least on the different chapters) I'll update as-they-come for two whole weeks! (Which will, hopefully, be better than just Fridays.)]

Ryou didn't think twice about pressing down the little push-button lock inside the door. He leaned against it for a moment, catching his breath before taking a good look around. And he was amazed.

Games! Piled up everywhere; on shelves, in stacks, in boxes. Dice like he'd never seen- some with more than 20 sides, and all of them made of strange materials. Some looked like rubies, others porcelain, some could have been any number of gems, all in the perfect spot to catch the dim sunlight coming in from the one narrow window on the back wall of the store. Something about the window made him pause, but before he could give it much thought the other games caught his eye.

Some were common, familiar games like Monopoly, Life, Sorry, and Racko, but looking so out of place right next to them on the shelves were things Ryou had never seen before. Odd boxes coated over with hieroglyphics, things that looked like ancient variations on chess, wooden boards, fragile cards, bizarre game pieces. There were stacks, piles, and decks fully of cards with strange creatures on them, all different colors, with what looked to be Egyptian hieroglyphs all over them. There was even one huge RPG game board with tiny realistic looking character pieces. The whole set-up would have been adorable if the tokens didn't look so unnervingly terrified. (I just HAD to throw that in...) There were games with little balls, games with things that could have been little bones, games from all over the world gathered into one tiny back-alley store.

Acid-techno music throbbed from a small stereo at the counter. On a nearby cork-board were posted all kind of odd, cyber-punkish slogans, bumper-sticker, signs, and adds mixed in with more postings of glyphs and messages in foreign languages that Ryou couldn't even begin to guess at. One sign in particular pulled at his eye.

W O O D
E M T A
L E H R
C T E K

What was that? Ryou turned his head to the side. Oh! I see! W-E-L-C-O- M-E-T--

"Can I help you?" asked a silky voice from the front counter. Ryou looked up. And froze. He completely forgot Atem existed.

The first thing he saw were the eyes. Half in the sunlight, if one eye wasn't in direct light Ryou would have almost been able to convince himself that they were brown. But no, the eye in the sun shone a brilliant red. Deep, frighteningly deep. It was like looking through a sun-lit ruby down into a pool of blood. Heavy, dark lashes contrasted with the alabaster skin of the creature in front of him, and his hair was white. True white, not like Ryou's who's pale hair held a tint of lavender in the shadow. This other's hair was pure, true white. Like frost, or tendrils of mist. In the shadows he blended in with so well, it held the barest hint of turquoise. But those eyes....

No human boy should ever have been given eyes like that. They were like the beautiful, terrible eyes of a sleepy predator, and that was how he moved, also. Just by shifting his weight onto the other foot he managed to send thrills of ancient terror down Ryou's spine. Smooth, graceful, dangerous, and old. Ryou didn't know how, but this thing looked like it had been swimming in blood for centuries and somehow still came out looking like a pure, angelic daemon. Ryou had only seen a color like those eyes once when he was very small. An icy, silvery ruby... or was it a bloodstone? He couldn't remember it was so long ago. But it didn't matter. Not with those eyes staring into his own green ones. He was often told he was a beautiful boy, but next to this dark predator he felt as plain and vulnerable as a brown rabbit, frozen in hopes that the hunter would over- look him.

"I.... I-I would like to buy a game," Ryou stuttered numbly around the lump in his throat after he finally caught his breath. He felt his face flush at the amused look on the other's face. You're being silly! he told himself fiercely. He's just some cyber-punk-goth kid. Buy your game and get out of here!

"Then you've come to the right place," said the angel softly, sending more silent thrills down Ryou's skin. There was no reason for him to be this frightened, but he couldn't help it. There was something primaly fearsome about the way this boy moved, one muscle at a time, so perfectly sculpted. There was not a flaw anywhere on his body... or the part that Ryou could see through the tight fishnet shirt and the buttery leather pants. Ryou realized what he was doing and looked away, at anything but this person who seemed to radiate dark light, as illogical as it sounded.

Ryou forced himself to remember exactly what he was looking for. Something chic enough for Anzu, something cute enough for Yuugi, something deep enough for Seto, something hip enough for Atemu, and maybe something scary enough for Malik.

Suddenly, the boy near his seemed to come to life, all ready to make a sale. "How about Senet, Egyptian game of the dead?" he motioned to the enameled game covered in hieroglyphs. "Or the I-Ching? Or maybe you'd like to cast the Runes?" Ryou could feel there was something wrong here, though he couldn't put his finger on it. It sent whispers of alarm up his spine. The stranger picked up a leather case and shook it invitingly, and Ryou could hear a sound like rattling bones.

"Well-- theres always the Tibetan game of Goats and Tigers? The fierce Tigers, see, stalk the innocent little goats. The Goats have to try to run away from the Tigers. For two players." He glanced up at Ryou though his lashes, and Ryou almost thought he caught a glimpse of mockery in the uncanny eyes.

"I-- no. Actually," started Ryou, nervous again, "I was looking for something you could play as a group, like Pictonary, or Twister. But you don't seem to have anything like that here, so I'd better be going now," he stuttered quickly, and turned to leave. He'd rather face the boys following him outside, something about this place was too creepy to be natural. As he reached for the doorknob, the silky voice, like fine sand through on hourglass, stopped him in his tracks.

"Mystery." Ryou froze. "Danger. Seduction. Fear." Ryou slowly spun around, his hand still outstretched for the door. "Secrets revealed. Desires unveiled." The haunting boy smiled, the most unnerving thing he'd done yet as he carefully pronounced the last word: "Temptation."

Ryou tensed, prepared to grab the door and run if the other boy took even one step towards him. "What.. are you talking about?" he asked slowly.

He didn't. His eyes were as harmlessly brown as an open grave. "The Game, of course. That is what you wanted, right? Something... very special."

Something very special. Just what he'd thought himself. "I think I'd better--"

"We do have something like that in stock," he said, suddenly full of energy again. He roused himself from his lounging pose at the counter and started towards a back room. Now's your chance, Ryou, he thought to himself, but he didn't move. Curiosity, or maybe something worse, held him in place. Just as he'd decided it wasn't worth knowing, just when he'd decided to go turn and go, the boy came back though the dark-painted door. "I believe this might be just what you're looking for," he said confidently as he came back though the door. The first thing Ryou thought as he held up the box was, Ok, you're kidding, right?

The box was large, about the size of a Monopoly box, and completely white. Glossy, shiney, but not a mark, letter, or symbol on it's surface.

Ryou waited for the punch line.

It never came. Suddenly, Ryou began to feel... drawn to it.

"Could I see it?" he asked suddenly, not realizing it until after he had spoken. Touch it, is what he meant. He wanted to feel the glossy coat on his palms, feel the sharpness of the corners, have the weight of it in his hands. He really wanted to.

The boy leaned back, shifting the box in his hands. Ryou noticed vaguely that there was not a smudge or fingerprint on the whole box. He also noticed how long, and slender the other's fingers were, and that he had an odd snake-like-creature with a man's torso on it tattooed around his wrist. "On second thought.... I'm not sure I can really sell this to you."

Ryou sputtered for a moment, dismayed. He wanted to walk over to the boy, reach out and take the box from him. "Why not?" he demanded, a bit harshly, he thought to himself.

The boy sighed to himself almost longingly. "Well, this Game is very special. Completely original. I can't just sell it to the first pretty face who comes along with a board scowl," he teased.

What a tease, Ryou found himself thinking. "It's for a party tonight-- for my boyfriend," Ryou admitted. The boy hardly reacted to the word boyfriend, in fact, he seemed more amused than before. "Atemu. It's just our little group tonight, only close friends."

The boy tilted his head to one side lazily. Light flashed off the silver earring he was wearing, a dagger or snake. Ryou couldn't tell which. "So?"

"So," Ryou began, getting a little annoyed. He forgot his anxiety temporarily. "You can't just throw a bunch of teenagers in a room, throw snacks at them and tell them to have a good time. I've really made a mistake of waiting until the last minute to plan this party-- no food, no decorations. And Atemu--"

Ryou's speech slowed down. The boy tilted the box back and forth. Ryou watched the light flash off of it, it went milky, then shiny, then milky plain again. It was hypnotic. "And Atemu will care?" His eyes were lidded, and he didn't look up at Ryou, but his tone seemed disbelieving.

Ryou felt defensive. "Well, he might be a little disappointed. I would be. It's just that, well, he deserves to be treated nicely on his birthday. He's so intelligent, and handsome. He's our school's top duelist, and he's going into the state finals next month."

"Ah, I see." the pale boy mused softly.

"Oh, no, It's not like that at all," Ryou replied, defensively. "Atem's wonderful, and I've love him very much, ok?" he finished, boldly taking a step towards the stranger. "He's the best boyfriend ever, and if anyone says differently--" Ryou paused when he looked up and saw the boy holding out the box to him, looking him straight in the eye.

"You can hold it, if you wish," he said in his soft, elemental voice, like waves rushing from the sand.

Ryou suddenly felt silly about his little outburst, and sheepishly reached out and took the box from him. It was just heavy enough to be interesting, and the smooth, glossy cover was almost slippery in his palms. Some rattled inside mysteriously, and Ryou felt himself wanting faintly to peek inside. There was just something about this odd, something almost electric about the way it felt under his fingers.

"We're closing," said the boy, standing up straight suddenly in another one of his arbitrary mood swings. "You buying?"

What a silly question, Ryou thought. Of course he was buying. He knew that if you bought a box without looking inside, you probably deserved what you got, but Ryou didn't really want to at that moment. "How much?" he asked, weighing it again.

"I'll give it to you for 20," he replied, walking behind the counter to an ancient looking bronze register. He keyed it open as Ryou handed him the bill, and the sight of all the different odd moneys inside made Ryou strangely uncomfortable. It gave him chills like little spiders crawling up his arms, and he shook himself slightly to rid himself from it. When he looked up, the boy was smiling that chilly smile again.

"Enjoy," he said, and his heavy lashes dropped as if in a private joke as the smile danced on his lips. Somewhere a clock chimed half a tune. Ryou glanced at his watch, then gasped softly. How could it possibly be 7:30 already?? If Ryou didn't hurry, he'd be late for hosting his own party.

"Uh, gotta go," he said rushedly, "See you later," he added automatically.

It was just a rhetorical thing, a courtesy not be answered, but the boy murmured something like "That's fine," or "At nine." Ryou barely noticed. When he glanced back to say goodbye, his goodbye froze in his throat. The boy was standing half in the shadow from a stained glass lamp, blue and purple colors striping his hair. For a second, Ryou caught a horrible look in his eyes, a hunger in those red eyes that was completely at odds with how he'd acted the whole hour he was in the shop. Then, as suddenly and shockingly as it had been there, it was gone. The boy in black reached over and turned the music back on.

Ryou shuddered as he closed the door, marveling silently how well the concrete walls kept in the sounds of the shop as the music was cut off completely. He shook himself again, sighed and turned for home. If he ran the whole way, he might just make it in time.

That was when he noticed the two guys across the street, waiting in the shadows of dusk. His stomach leapt in terror as they headed right for him, danger in their eyes. Instinctively he reached behind him for the doorknob. How could he have forgotten to ask for a phone? He could have called Atem or Malik-- where was the doorknob??

The boys were close enough for Ryou to see how horribly pale the small one was, and to see his own tiny reflection in the bandana-d boy's sunglasses and where the hell was the freaking doorknob??? All he could feel was the cold, uncaring bricks of the mural behind him.

Where was it where was it-where--????

Suddenly the panic mode part of his brain told him calmly to chuck the box at them. Maybe they'd stop to check it out and you can get away! Stop looking for a way in that isn't there. Waste of time. Do it!

With both hands he lifted the box above his head to smash it at them as hard as he could. Ryou wasn't quite sure what happened next. The boys froze, looked at the box, turned and ran. Really ran, took off. Like they were running for their lives. Fast.

Ryou wasn't going to stop and think about it. He put the game under his arm and bolted in the other direction towards home, and safety. My fingers, he thought as he ran, I couldn't throw the box because my fingers...

Don't think about it! the reasonable part of his brain told him sharply. If your going to put a box above your own life, go ahead, but don't dwell on it! Ryou , now four blocks away, now hugged the game to his chest and began walking quickly. He never turned around to see how he could have missed the doorknob. At the time, he simply forgot.

It was almost 8 o clock by the time Ryou reached his own block, eyeing the cozy looking living rooms he passed by enviously. About halfway home he began to wonder if buying the game was the best idea after all. I mean I don't even know what's inside it, he thought, but he knew, he could feel that the box was special. I hummed with energy in his hands.

Oh, don't be silly, it's a box.

But... those guys ran. Really ran! They looked scared to death of this old thing, the back of his mind whispered, but Ryou was determined to hear none of it.

He sighed in relief as his apartment came into view. He had the whole bottom floor to himself, his father still away, and they were planning to use the huge community pool tonight. Well, Ryou thought, straightening out his sweater with a freed hand, no such luck.

He hopped up his front steps, infinitely glad for the porch light, and froze. A long, dark, low shadow was speeding his way from the garden along side the house. Chills made the back of his neck prickle.

Then the shadow moved darted under the porch light and became the ugliest cat in Japan. It's fur was speckled ash gray, dirt brown, and milk crème (like a case of mange, Jounouchi once teased), and it's left eye was squinted and useless from a cat-fight years ago. Ryou had started feeding the cat a year ago, and it was still partly feral.

"Come here, Duchess," Ryou crooned, leaning down to pet her, feeling relief wash over him. But Duchess flattened her ears against her head and growled like the possessed girl in that American movie The Exorcist. But she didn't bite, though. Animals never bit Ryou. Duchess ran off.

Once inside, he took off his shoes and sniffed the air. Was that... sesame oil? Ryou's father wasn't supposed to be home for another two weeks. It was unheard of for him to come home early. Half in alarm and half hopeful, he dropped his backpack--and the box-- on the coffee table in the hallway and ran to the kitchen.

"Finally! We were starting to think you'd run out on your own party!"

Ryou stopped short in the entry way and blinked. On his kitchen counter (where he knows he's not allowed to sit...!) lounged a gorgeous boy in a purple tank top and army jacket with long khaki pants, one long leg on the counter and one dangling above the floor. His hair, golden as the jewelry he constantly wore, fell around his shoulders. He looked like an Egyptian jaguar and was grinning wickedly.

"Malik..." Ryou began.

The other inhabitant of the kitchen wore a stylish three-quarter sleeved chenille sweater, purple to accent her eyes. Around her on the counter was spread a host of utensils and spices-- it looked like she had raided Ryou's whole kitchen. Cleavers and ladles, eggs, a can of bamboo shoots, a bottle of rice wine. A delicious smelling stir-fry was sizzling on the stove.

"...and Mai!" Ryou finished. "What are you doing here?"

"Saving your ass," grinned Malik.

"But--you're cooking!" he exclaimed, shocked. "I didn't know you could cook!"

"Of course I can cook. I've traveled with my parents so much, and we always had really friendly kitchen staff-- I would hang around in the kitchens when I was bored and talk to the chiefs and learn their languages and things. I loved it," Mai explained, not looking up from the stove.

While she was talking, Ryou was looking back and forth between his two close friends. When she stopped, he couldn't help but burst out laughing. Of course these two would see that all week he'd been stressing horribly about the party and how frantic he was. They knew him too well, and were too good of friends to let him screw the whole thing up, and came to his rescue. Ryou grinned joyfully and hugged the two of his best friends in turn.

"Since Atem likes Chinese, I decided that I should cook," Mai continued, smiling at Ryou while dropping something dumpling-like into the stir fry. "What took you so long? Run into trouble?"

"Oh-- no," Ryou fibbed. If he tried to explain what had happened he knew he'd get yelled at. Not by Malik. No, Malik Ishtar's recklessness was matched only with his twisted sense of humor. The ever practical Mai Valentine, however, was a different story. "I was just buying a game for tonight, but I don't know if we'll actually play it or not."

"Why not?" asked Malik

Ryou pretended to shrug off the cold feeling the whole experience gave him. He didn't know why, or how to even explain it. He decided to not even try. "It might be a bit boring is all. So, what are you making, Mai?" Ryou asked to change the subject, leaning against Malik and the counter and trying to peek over her should at the same time.

"Oh, just some Mu shu rou and a few Hei jiao niu liu," Mai explained moving about the kitchen as gracefully as she did everything. Ryou blinked. "That's stir-fried pork and spring rolls. And some friend rice and things."

"Pork," started Malik, taking a sip from a can of Vamps, his favorite energy drink, "Is death on wheels. You have to work at the gym for a week to get off one pork chop."

"Atemu loves it," Mai clipped back, "And he looks fine to me."

Malik gave a maddening laugh, and hostility flashed across the room like lightning.

Ryou sighed. "Why can't you two just get along for one night?"

"I don't think so," Mai sing-songed, expertly stirring the wok with chop-sticks.

"And ruin a perfect record?" Malik asked grinning, flashing his white sharp teeth in his dark face.

"Please, you two, I won't have Atemu's birthday party ruined-- even by my two best friends. Please?" Ryou begged.

"Oh, go to your room and get beautiful," Mai teased. It was a known fact that Ryou was probably the prettiest boy any of them had ever seen, and they didn't mind teasing him about it every now and then.

The box, Ryou wondered as he hopped up the stairs, but decided to check it out later.
[Da-na!! Three new characters! I tried to go by personality, but I just HAD to make Dee Malik because of what Julian says at one point...(book quote::) ""Do you know you're the image of Ankhesenamun, one of the greatest beauties in Egypt?"" So I had to make it Malik. But I'll change the quote when i get to it, lol. Because only Dee can be that beautiful. - And Mai was the only person I could EVER see being Audrey. I even changed the sign in the Game Store, even though I love that sign. ((it originally read "Welcome To My World")) Heh, try pronouncing it sideways. "Wood Emta Lehr Ctek". Sounds interesting, at least. Any hints and sugestions for the rest of the book? Or any guesses as to who will be the rest of the cast? Some of it could be easy (like Michael ) and some might be be harder (like Zach or Summer.. well, you might be able to guess Zach...Think personality). I'll put Kudos in the next chapter for those who guess correctly. And, should I change the Oath? Or just keep it the same? And any suggestions about Fears for the characters? Or the Doll House? I'm wide open over here!!! Review please!!]